Design Coordination: optimizing building projects with BIM

The design of a building is generally a multidisciplinary process, involving various designers, such as architects, engineers, and so on, who work together to create a single solution.

In this context, coordination is an essential part of the design process: the structural engineer must coordinate with the architect, who in turn must coordinate with the system engineers to ensure that everything is executed optimally and that there are no interferences between the various designed elements.

In this article, we will delve into what Design Coordination is, why it is so important for delivering high-level projects, and how a BIM coordination platform can best assist you.

What is Design Coordination and why is it crucial in the construction industry?

Design Coordination represents the management of the activities and processes necessary to achieve the objectives of a project, while maintaining the estimated budget and agreed timelines.

Design, in its broadest sense, involves multiple disciplines: architecture, structure, systems, so coordinating all the various aspects and avoiding interferences is therefore an essential process.

If technicians work individually on the structural, architectural, thermal, electrical, or fire protection aspects, for example, it will be necessary to deliver to the client a project that encompasses all these aspects.

The integration and coordination among multiple disciplinary and specialized projects prepared by different members of the design team occur through the creation of a unique model, containing all the unified and conflict-free information.

Starting from disciplinary models, at the end of the design coordination process, the so-called federated model is obtained, a set of 3D models related to specific disciplines (architectural, structural, systems, etc.) that integrate into a single view to create a single comprehensive digital model of the building that is multidisciplinary and all-encompassing.

Effective Design Coordination of the design can help reduce:

• rework and changes during construction;
• costs;
• delays.

The importance of design coordination for successful projects

Construction projects increasingly involve tight deadlines and high expectations, and the sense of urgency makes it more difficult to coordinate multiple stakeholders and keep everyone on the same page.

In this context, design coordination plays a primary role:

• establishes the general guidelines to be followed and the expectations to be pursued;
• maintains focus on the big picture;
• encompasses all the parties involved, as the various disciplines are connected and interrelated and require mutual information to proceed with the design development;
• allows for quick responses and directs and keeps the team on track.

If an adequate design coordination process is not developed, there is a risk of developing projects lacking important information or poorly communicated, inconsistencies, typos, and errors in the distribution and allocation of design resources.

Processes and best practices for Design Coordination

To improve the Design Coordination process, it is very useful to identify a Design Coordinator within the work team, who acts as a nerve center and point of contact among all the various parties involved in the design phase, including architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, and clients, facilitating effective communication and collaboration.

It is also important to:

1. always think about the finished product;
2. monitor the project’s progress;
3. supervise all the various development, control, and review processes of the project;
4. draft a protocol or a series of guidelines for planning the design phase, defining timelines, objectives, and milestones;
5. manage communication between the parties effectively;
6. optimize time;
7. produce clear and understandable project outputs for all parties.

The tangible benefits of effective Design Coordination

Effective Design Coordination influences the positive or negative outcome of a construction project. In fact, Design Coordination helps to:

• facilitate communication and data flow among stakeholders;
• achieve efficiency and cost savings;
• simplify workflow;
• improve collaboration and teamwork;
• manage activities, resources, and project timelines to minimize risks and delays;
• monitor the project’s progress to ensure it runs smoothly;
• stay organized and in sync with the team;
• focus on stakeholder feedback.

Design Coordination and BIM: a winning partnership

BIM can help ensure that collaborative practices are adopted, standard methods and procedures are used, and that designers are contractually obligated to provide specific information at specific phases of a project. BIM is indeed a collaborative design method based on the creation of information-rich 3D BIM models. The various actors involved in the realization of a project can enrich the informational model, input, extract, update, or modify information.

In the 3D BIM model, the various disciplines of architectural, structural, and MEP engineering are therefore integrated, and the design process is simplified: one of the advantages of adopting BIM is the ability to better avoid conflicts, that is, to help ensure spatial coordination among the different components.

The BIM coordination process develops in several phases:

• creation of models: in which each professional involved in modeling creates their own BIM model;
• integration of models: separate disciplinary models are carefully integrated into a single unified digital model;
• collision detection: a critical process in which specialized software, such as usBIM.clash, is used to identify collisions between model elements;
• development of coordination meetings: team members involved in the coordination phase, designers, and contractors meet as soon as problems are identified. These meetings are important because they focus on exploring possible solutions to the detected conflicts;
• model review realization: starting from potential solutions for a problem, the modelers involved in a specific conflict redesign the elements, adjust placements, and create modifications to resolve the issue. The integrated model is then updated to reflect the changes made.

Design coordination process

Common Challenges in Design Coordination and How to Overcome Them

The main challenge in Design Coordination is certainly the ability to rely on an adequate software tool.

There are many software solutions on the market capable of adequately developing a clash detection, but what really makes a difference is the use of software that can support the entire Design Coordination process.

Have you ever integrated a software platform into your construction process that allows you to collaborate in real-time with your colleagues, share and manage construction and infrastructure projects, and work online with any device from anywhere?

With usBIM, files created with any BIM authoring tool can be modified and managed within the system, completely online! Within the system, it will be possible to create an online information system for construction by integrating the 3D digital model with data and documents where it is easy to search, view, and analyze every piece of stored information. Collaboration with your team, also thanks to the help of chat and online meetings, has never been so simple.

Find out how to become our BIM partner